For Grud's Sake!
by Rikki Rray
Summary: When Xander lost his eye, a certain Judge residing in his subconcious, wakes up and comes out to play.


For Grud's Sake!

Ok, still own nothing. Set after 'Dirt Girl's' in Season 7, and I'm not up to date with 'Judge Dredd', so we'll say, hmm, definitely post-Progs 270, cos I mentioned 'The Apocalypse War' in "Drokk It!"  
Mentioned also are Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke, both are the property of Masashi Kishimoto

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As Xander lay on the hospital trolley in the ER dept., he thought back to the previous evening. When had things started to go so wrong? He tried to go to sleep, Lord knew that they'd given him the strong stuff, but images kept flying past his minds eye.

He kept seeing the uniform that he'd worn as a costume on Halloween all those years ago, or what he'd thought was a costume, but turned out to be a real uniform in another reality. He was seeing faces. Faces that were real. Judges that he both knew, and at the same time, didn't know. Eventually, sleep claimed the now one-eyed carpenter, and then two Slayers, a witch and a little sister came into his cubicle. It was their thoughts that woke him up in the end. That and the guilt that they were feeling.

"'S'not your fault y'know," he slurred at them, the morphine having taken its toll. Dawn jumped at this point. "Ssh, Dawnie. Your broadcasting sweetie. Buffy, them's the breaks. And Cassie's back now. Now, let me sleep, and we'll introduce Caleb to the Justice Dept. tomorrow. K?" And with that, Xander started to snore as Faith and Buffy just looked at one another as Willow burst out crying at the same time as Dawn did.

By the time the four girl's had reached Revello Drive, Willow had had time to calm down and think. She'd remembered where she'd heard of the Justice Dept. before, although she didn't know who 'Cassie' was. "Didn't Xander pinch all of Giles' comics after Halloween in junior year?" she asked Buffy in mild confusion.

Buffy just shrugged, not really seeing where this line of questioning was going. "Yeah, said he had some secrets to keep, and although Giles was gonna keep 'em, he was also gonna hedge his bets," Dawn said quietly, remembering that Halloween when she dressed as Haruno Sakura, and then spent the next six months mooning after the boy in the next homeroom, just because he'd dressed as Uchiha Sasuke.

As she said this, Giles came into the kitchen. "how is he?"

"They couldn't save the eye, Jeeves," Faith said, looking less than impressed at that outcome. "He also said something about, what was it B? 'Cassie's back' and something about introducing Caleb to the 'Justice Dept.' Giles, what's wrong?" she asked when he went white and sat down suddenly.

"Anderson's back?" he whispered, as he took his glasses off.

"Who's Anderson?" Buffy asked in confusion.

"Psi Judge Cassandra Anderson. Xander was possessed by her on Halloween in junior year, and she left him," Giles said quietly, so the potentials wouldn't hear. "He was left with low level telepathy, and a greater understanding of tactics, not to mention a love of motorbike's-"

"So that beast outside is his, and not the Bleached Wonder's?" interrupted Faith excitedly.

"Yeah, and it goes really fast too. Oops, maybe I shouldn't have said that," said Dawn sheepishly, when she saw the glare that Buffy was giving her.

"When?" was all Buffy said to her.

"Before we bought you back," Willow said, "and when we found out, Tara put her foot down. But Xander made sure she wore a helmet, and everything."

"Why Tara?" Giles found himself asking in slightly morbid fascination.

"Because Xander would nearly always do what she asked him to do, without the need for a resolve face," Dawn said with a giggle at the slightly put out look on Willow's face.

Nearly three hours later, the man that they were all talking about, walked through the door as if nothing much had happened. "Hey girls, where's the G-Man?" then without waiting for a reply, he went straight for where Giles was holed up with Buffy, Faith, Willow and Dawn.

"I wonder what that was all about?" Vi said to Rona, as Kennedy got up to muscle her way in to meeting that was going on in the kitchen.

"Hey, how's my best girls?" Xander said as he walked into the kitchen, and intercepted a red-haired missile of Wicca proportions.

"Xander! Should you be out of the ER yet?" babbled Dawn, "Are you ok? Where's Anya? Does she know?"

"Whoa! I haven't seen Anya yet, she's upstairs asleep, although, if you keep up that level of noise, she won't be for long," he grinned at her. "Giles, I've got some stuff to share, but we've got an eavesdropper," and he cocked his head towards the kitchen door where Kennedy was stationed.

Buffy went to deal with their uninvited, (for this conversation at least), guest, and Xander proceeded to drop the bombshell. "Giles guessed at Halloween that I wasn't possessed by Judge Dredd, it was Anderson. Problem being that Anderson is a woman. For my sake, he kept it quiet. From the look on all of you faces, and the lack of shock," and Xander grinned now, " he's clued you in. Something Caleb did to me last night, I dunno, for lack of a better word, has awakened Cass. She's part of me now." A genuine smile graced Xander's face at this point. "Ladies, Giles. The Justice Dept. is coming to Sunnydale. And for Caleb's sake, I hope the First helps him, 'cos Grud knows, I won't."


End file.
